Rock Island daily Argus., 1887-07-23
CIRCUS AND CARAVAN.
Doris Il C0lvin's Grand Consolidation
in Rock Island The Exhibition This
Afternoon - T0-Nights Entertain
meut

The elephant walks around;
The band begins to play;
The boys around the monkeys cage
Had better keep away
Thus sung the circus clown years ago
and his successors have kept up the re-
fTain with more or less variation ever
since. The verse was especially appro
pirate at O'Clock this afternoon when
hundreds of people hung between two
attractions, the menagerie and the circus
of Doris & Colvin's united shows. and
tore themselves away from tho animals
cages TO be delighted with the ring and
stage acts. The eight footed horse, the
sacred COW, the hyenas, performing lions,
educated monkeys. that monster mass of
flesh. the Asiatlc Yak, and each and every
one of the scores of rare and curious ani>
mails of the big mensgerie tent, came in
for their share of special admiration; but
TO the two babT ponies was awarded all
the juvenile attention and delight. The
menagerIe is one of the best in all parlic-
uiars that has ever visited Rock Island
many of the beasts on exhibition would
be a curiosity in other travelling shows
The circus performance WIS one of the
best ever given, and two large rings aud
| IA stage platform between them were kept
constantly occupied. Leaping, tumbling.
vaultiUg, riding, racing, balancing. rope
walking, trapeze work, aerial flights and
horscplay by the clowns. followed Que
another IN rapid succt ssion and made up
a performance of such uniform excellence
that particular mention of special fea
| lures becomes difficult Miss Purvis,
whose appearance Is as captivating ms
| her feats are wonderful. is one ot the
strongest cards of the show. On the
| slack wire she has no superior, and as a
balancer and juggler the handsome girl
J is wonderfully clever. She took large
share of the plaudits of last nights mons
ler audience that filled nearly every seat
| under the vast area Of canvas. William
| Duthre is the star male rlder of the show
who's" skill rs bareback equestrian and
four Ise driver seems marvellous. The
dashlng lady rider Miss Ella Stokes, re
ceived decided ovation at the conc,n
sion of her bareback act on spirited
horse, and the other riders, ladies ant
gentlemen were all good. Mile. Lotto
swung to the top of The tent, hung by
one foot from dizzy heights. and per
formed number of daring feats tina
made 'hr more limid spectators cling /,
| their breath and their escorts. Satsuma
the Japanese JGggler, gave fue exhIbl-
| tIOn of his juggling and balancing pow
ers.
The work of the half dozen or NOR,
clowns was the most amusing aud one oI
the most entertaining features of The
show. Edward Sheehan sang cnmI'
dltty to the great delight of the young
sters. and HIS jokes and gags were new
and very funny. There was an Irisl
clown. a Chinese clown and other
whose nationality was not so easy to de
termine, and their by>plsy was yastll
amusing. A hurlesque ball game of th,
zone old cat order was especially laugh
able. One of the strongest features u
the show consists in the hippodrour
races, which were well contested and ex'
| citing There was four-horse Chario
race, Il team bareback race, wheclharrov
races, elephant and camel races, pon,
race with monkey riders. and duzcI
Others. A running race, half mile dnsi
with lady jockeys, was hot one all thr
way through.
The Wild West entertainment conclu
ded lengthy programme, and was
whole show in itself. Capt E. Z
Stubhs, a phenomenal shot and an old
time border scout, did some wonderful
glass ball shooting and led the repulse q
the Indians III the stage coach robbery il
gallant style. Some very fast riding wa
done by California Frank. Suspende
Jack and others. and the crowd wen
wild with enthusiasm Texas steers an'
huCking hronchOs added to the excite
ment, and the last hall hour was a thrill
, IuC and eveutful one. Very few ther
were in the assemblage who were no
carried away by the realistic display o
border life and thought they were gain
at real conflicts perils and escapes.
Tonight will be the last chance to Sc
this monster show under the person,
direction of Messrs. Doris and ColviT
men well known all over the world as tn
originators of the great Wild West. TIL
show is neat. clean and well worth
visit and every thing moyes along in
business like way and free from all III
pleasant annoyaBces that sometimes f0
low large show OF this kind